Veteran actor Richard Harris, who stars as Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, is battling cancer, the BBC reports.

The 72-year-old Irish actor has had chemotherapy sessions after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease.

Harris, who has been in hospital for two months, is expected to be able to work on the third Harry Potter film, "The Prisoner Of Azkaban."

His agent told the BBC: "He has responded very, very well to treatment and he should be out of hospital soon."

The veteran Irish actor fell ill in August after filming the second Harry Potter film, "The Chamber of Secrets," and went to a hospital suffering with a severe chest infection.

Hodgkin's disease is the most common type of lymphoma -- a cancer of the lymphatic system, which is a network of thin tubes that carry disease-fighting white blood cells throughout the body. It occurs when the cells grow abnormally and collect to form tumors, often in the lymph nodes.

-- with files from AP


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